Sri Lanka Vs South Africa, 2018: Colombo, 2nd Test, Day One Report

In the ongoing second Test of the two-match Test series in Colombo, South African left-arm orthodox spinner, Keshav Maharaj took eight wickets to dent the morale of Sri Lanka. The Lions started strongly at the beginning of the innings, however, they were exposed later by magnificent Maharaj.

While batting first, the Lankans got a steady start as Danushka Gunathilaka and Dimuth Karunaratne set up a solid partnership. The duo scored 57 and 53 respectively.

They put an opening partnership of 116 for the first wicket. It was Maharaj, who gave this breakthrough to South Africa in the form of Karunaratne.

It was a just a matter of one-run after Karunaratne when Gunathilaka gave an easy catch to Kagiso Rabada.

After the quick fall of opening batsmen, Dhananjaya de Silva along with Kusal Mendis held the key positions respectively owing to the Sri Lankan batting line-up.

When both the batsmen were looking dangerous for South Africa, Faf du Plessis used his ‘master card’.

As skipper handed over the ball to Maharaj, he wasted no time to provide another breakthrough in the form of Mendis. He scored 21 off 34 balls and out of them he managed to find the fence on four occasions.

Sri Lanka on Teatime

de Silva along with Angelo Mathews were fighting back as Sri Lanka were 110 for three at the tea break.

Soon after the match progressed in the final session of the day, Maharaj maintained to entertain his captain.

He was bowling unplayable deliveries one after another. Mathews fall prey when he managed to add one-run to his total only to be removed by Maharaj.

Fifth-wicket partnership:

Roshan Silva joined the crease to accompany solid de Silva. They added a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Speedster Kagiso Rabada got his first wicket when he bamboozled Silva.

Soon after Silva, Sri Lankan batsmen fell like a pack of cards. The day one ended with 277 for nine in 86 overs when the stumps were dislodged by the on-field umpires.

The highlight of the day was Keshav Maharaj, who bagged eight wickets for 116 runs in 32 overs.